Local hip-hop artist Fabian Danobeytia running for Tucson City Council

A local hip-hop artist is the latest candidate to flirt with a run for Tucson City Council this year.

Fabian Danobeytia, who has worked in the software field, is joining the field of Democrats eyeing a run in Ward 5 on the South Side.

The native Tucsonan performs under the name Dan,OBEY and describes himself on Instragram as “da GOAT of this Tucson Hip Hop shiz.”

He said Ward 5 “deserves a voice that puts people over corporate interests, and I’m ready to be that advocate.”

“I’m running because Tucson’s working families, immigrants, and unhoused neighbors deserve real representation,” Danobeytia told Tucson Sentinel via email. “Too many people are struggling with skyrocketing rents, low wages, and lack of access to essential services. I will fight to expand affordable housing, strengthen tenant protections, improve outreach for services for those in need, and ensure workers have real protections on the job.”

Danobeytia joins five other candidates who have signaled interest in Ward 5, where Councilman Richard Fimbres, first elected in 2009, is not seeking a fifth term.

Selena Barajas, Jesse Lugo and Christopher Elsner have filed statements of organization in the race, while Richard Hernandez has filed a statement of interest. Another fresh statement of interest came from Manon Getsi, a former organizer with the Save the Heart of Reid Park group who has served on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission.

Candidates must file a statement of interest before they begin
collecting signatures on their nominating petitions. Before they raise
more than $500, they must file a statement of organization. (Candidates
who plan to participate in the city’s publicly financed campaign
program, which provides a dollar-for-dollar match of individual campaign
contributions to qualified candidates, must file a statement of
organization before collecting nomination signatures, raising funds or
spending money.)

Barajas, a native Tucson and UA grad who earned a master’s degree in planning at UCLA, previously helped manage the Sunnyside Foundation’s Community Investment Fund. She calls herself a “creative entrepreneur” and is opening a South Tucson coffeeshop, Luna y Sol Cafe, with her husband. 

Barajas has already been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, Ward 1 Councilmember Lane Santa Cruz, Pima County Supervisors Adelita Grijalva, Jennifer Allen and Matt Heinz, and South Tucson Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela.

Barajas plans to have a launch party after one of this week’s rodeo events, at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, at Taquería La Exquina, at 4876 S. 6th Ave. in front of the Historic Rodeo Grounds.

Lugo, who previously ran unsuccessfully for the Ward 5 seat in 2001, is a former gas station owner and a longtime advocate for small business.

Lugo said he wanted to focus on providing core services and constituent services.

F. Ann Rodriguez, who served seven terms as Pima County Recorder after first winning office in 1992, is co-chairing Lugo’s campaign.

Elsner hasn’t previously sought public office in Tucson. He is a Peace Corps alum who now works for the group at the University of Arizona.

Hernandez won 14 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for the District 2 seat on the Pima County Board of Supervisors in 2020. Hernandez made an aborted run for the Pima Community College Governing Board in 2024 but withdrew after filing his nominating petitions.

Reached by email, Hernandez did not say whether he planned to move forward with his campaign, but said he would not make an effort to raise funds to support it if he did.

“I never ask ppl for money as I do not want to owe favor to those who donate,” he wrote.

Ward 5 Democrats need to collect at least 252 signatures from registered voters who live in the ward, and are not members of the Republican or Libertarian parties. A Republican would need 62 signatures to get on the primary ballot, and a Libertarian just three signers — the signatures requirements are based on the votes cast in the preceding election.

In other wards

The Ward 6 race got less crowded last week after former state lawmaker and Tucson City Council member Bruce Wheeler decided against running for the Midtown office.

That leaves five Democrats and one Republican in the race, where there’s an open seat because There is no incumbent because Councilmember Karin Uhlich is not seeking the office. Uhlich was appointed to the seat in May 2024 after Democrat Steve Kozachik resigned from the council. Uhlich had previously served in Ward 3.

The Democrats are:

• Miranda Schubert, who works in an administrative role at community radio station KXCI, 91.3 FM, and who has served on the city’s Board of Adjustment and the Complete Streets Coordinating Council, where she has been an advocate for more bike lanes and more sidewalks.

 Schubert is making her second run for the Ward 6 seat. She captured 28 percent of the vote against Kozachik in the 2021 Ward 6 primary.

• Theresa Riel, a retired math teacher and a member of the Pima Community College Governing Board who has been active in her Midtown neighborhood association.

Riel will speak to the Democrats of Greater Tucson at noon on Monday, Feb. 17. Those wishing to join the Zoom meeting must register in advance.

• Charlie Verdin, who runs a company that sells T-shirts, toys and other accessories related to videogames. Verdin flirted with a run for Congress in 2018 and ran for the Arizona Legislature in 2022.

Verdin said his campaign was flagging in a Feb. 15 Facebook post.

“I’ve enjoyed getting back into campaigning, but looking at the math, I don’t think it’s going to work out for me this time,” Verdin wrote. “I got started too late, and I need too many petition signatures in too little time. And I’m exhausted, trying to fit too much into each day.”

Verdin urged potential supporters to contribute to his campaign by helping him gather signatures.

• Leighton Rockafellow Jr., a personal injury attorney making his first run for public office.

• Jim Sinex, a retired science teacher whose top issue is “to build a better election system” because he believes the current one is unfair.

In Ward 6, Democrats need 576 signatures to make the primary ballot, while GOP candidates need 145 and Libertarians need five valid signers.

Republican candidates in Tucson are at a significant disadvantage in Council races because Tucson’s election system requires candidates run within their wards in the primary race, but citywide in the general.

Democrats have a significant voter-registration advantage over Republicans citywide, with nearly two Democrats for every Republican. Overall, Democrats make up 42 percent of voters, Republicans make up 22 percent and independent voters make up 36 percent of voters.

It’s not impossible for a Republican to win a seat on the City Council, but the last GOP candidate to win at the ballot box was Kozachik, who captured the Ward 6 seat in 2009. He switched his registration to Democrat before his next election.

Republican Bob Walkup served as mayor from 1999 to 2011.

Jay Tolkoff, the former owner of the now-shuttered PJ Subs “T6” Filling Station, is the only Republican seeking the Ward 6 seat. Last week, Tolkoff advanced his campaign by filing a statement of organization on Feb. 10.

In Ward 3 on the North Side, Democrat Alma Gordon filed a Jan. 22 statement of interest to run against Councilmember Kevin Dahl, who is seeking a second term. Gordon works as an organizational consultant, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has not responded to an email from Tucson Sentinel regarding her campaign.

Ward 3 Dems need 391 signatures on nominating petitions, with Republicans needing 114 and Libertarians four signatures. The Green Party is not recognized to run in Tucson City elections, due to not having sufficient numbers of voters.

No Republican candidates have filed statements of interest in Wards 3 or 5, but Pima County Republican Party Chairwoman Kathleen Winn told the Sentinel in December that she expects the GOP will field candidates in all three races despite the party’s voter-registration disadvantage.

Tucson holds city elections in odd-numbered years.

Mayor Regina Romero and Councilmembers Lane Santa Cruz (Ward 1), Paul Cunningham (Ward 2), and Nikki Lee (Ward 4) were elected to four-year terms in 2023.